Silence.

Seconds later, Qin Ye finally continued, “Thirdly, this is anything but the lowly provocation that the Lord Mythic Spirit suggests it is. Rather, if this is indeed true, then the implications could potentially change the netherworld as we know it.”

He glanced around the table and continued with a deep voice, “I’m quite certain that everyone was already mentally prepared for something like this the moment I decided to step back into this room. Let me reiterate that this is anything but a joke. Let me put it out there that the Russian Underworld is definitely looking to develop Forbidden Art capabilities. And to this end, they already possess the basic conceptual know-how, and some raw data on how to go about with these developments. Furthermore, I can assure you that there are traces of the Argosian Underworld egging them on from behind the shadows!”

Nobody said a word.

Perhaps it was Qin Ye’s attitude in the earlier round of negotiations that had attracted the responses of - “Are you kidding me?” “This joke isn’t even funny.” “Is this Hell’s attitude towards international affairs these days?”

And perhaps, even when he stepped into the grand hall for the second time, they might still have thought that Hell was simply coming up with excuses to compel others to act on their behalf when it wasn’t convenient for them to do so. After all, the interests of any underworld were of paramount importance, and the excuses used were just cover stories to justify the interest that they were tabling for negotiations. Unfortunately, these allegations and claims were a little bit tasteless, even as excuses.

That said, everything...